This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Large industrial vehicles (e.g., mining shovels) may include an undercarriage or other framework for supporting the vehicle and enabling movement of the vehicle about a work site. The undercarriage may include a track having a series of segments, or crawler shoes, that are pivotally connected and driven about a frame to propel the vehicle. As the undercarriage is operated (e.g., the track is driven about the frame), components of the undercarriage, including the crawler shoes, may become worn due to inherent friction between the undercarriage components, the weight of the vehicle, climatic conditions, and the varied terrain, among other factors. Further, various components of the undercarriage may be “dry-running,” or operated without oil or grease lubrication. The crawler shoes for instance, may be configured to interface with load rollers of the undercarriage, and thus may be particularly subject to wear. The undercarriage components may thus require frequent inspection, repair, and/or replacement to maintain efficient operation of the vehicle.
Ultrasonic measurement devices may be used to measure or estimate the wear of the crawler shoes and other undercarriage components. For instance, an ultrasonic measurement device may be configured to send an ultrasonic signal (e.g., a high frequency sound wave) from a first surface of the crawler shoe in the direction of a second opposite surface. The ultrasonic measurement device may then measure the elapsed time before the signal is reflected from the second surface and received at the device in order to determine a thickness of the crawler shoe. However, the crawler shoe may have multiple wear surfaces, such that the wear of a particular surface may not be determinable based on the thickness of the crawler shoe. Also, the wear may occur unevenly across the surface of the shoe, such that the thickness measurement may be different depending on the location of the measurement. Further, some surfaces of the crawler shoe may be rounded or uneven. Thus, an accurate measurement or estimate of the wear of a conventional crawler shoe may be difficult or, under certain circumstances, impossible to obtain using the ultrasonic measurement device or a mechanical measurement device.